WASHINGTON - Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced
that she has affirmed the results of the October 21, 2003 recall election
and November 5, 2003 special election held by the Sac and Fox Tribe
of the Mississippi in Iowa, a federally recognized tribe. The action
ended a long-standing internal dispute over the tribe's leadership,
which led to the closing of the tribe's casino and brought economic
and political uncertainty to tribal members.

"Further delay in this
already long-standing dispute can not be justified," Martin said
in her decision. "I believe that the recall and special elections
were fair and open and the results sufficiently reflect the will of
the people."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) Midwest Regional Office had spent several months attempting to
end a dispute among Sac and Fox tribal members about who represented
their tribal government. On August 4, 2003, the Midwest Regional Director
wrote to the tribal chairman and other interested parties stating the
BIA's position on the dispute and cautioning them about the impact that
would result from the tribal council's "failure to deal with the
efforts of the tribal membership to express their will." A solution
was offered whereby the Interior Department would recognize the results
of a "fair and openly conducted" special election "initiated
by a representative group of tribal members" as the representatives
of the tribe "for the purposes of the government-to-government
relationship between the United States and the Tribe."

On October 21 the tribe held
a recall election and on November 5 a special election was held to fill
four vacancies that had been created by the recall election. The results
of the special election were verified by a six-member tribal election
committee comprised of a representative group of tribal members and
by two independent judges. After the Midwest Regional Director accepted
the verified results of the special election, he issued a letter on
November 7 identifying the seven members of the tribal council which
the Bureau would recognize based on the recall and special elections:
Wayne Pushetonequa, Harvey Davenport, Jr., Homer Bear, Jr., Keith Davenport,
Deron Ward, Frank Black Cloud and Ray YoungBear. The three candidates
who received the most votes in the special election each received overwhelming
pluralities representing the votes of more than 30 percent of all eligible
tribal voters.

The Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary's decision affirmed the Midwest Regional Director's recognition
of the members of the tribal council for the Sac and Fox Tribe of the
Mississippi in Iowa as stated in his November 7, 2003 letter, and her
decision is final for the Department and effective immediately.